The extension project is part of this poetic dialogue. It is defined above all as a landscaped and luxuriant garden in which a monolithic architecture emerges at its center.
In the middle of the garden, the extension stands at the highest point of the site from which the clock tower can be seen across the valley to the north. It too, emerges in the middle of the vegetation. A dialogue is established at a distance.
When one observes it more attentively, the monolith is engraved in some parts. Like a fossil, its mass is marked by vegetal prints. These traces are extracts of motifs from Aubusson tapestries, including those from the Maison Hamot. A few large windows punctuate the façade, revealing the interiors and projecting them towards the landscape.

Visit path
The extension emerges in the middle of the garden. It is connected to the existing building by an underground access. A gallery connects the end of the large nave to the lower level of the reception hall of the new building, inviting the visitor to the first two exhibition rooms.
Then the visitor continues his visit by taking monumental staircases (or an elevator), to reach the upper level. The staircase follows an intertwined movement generating plunging and counter-plunging views from one flight to another. These movements and the visual exchanges that take place offer a theatrical dimension to the ascent as well as to the descent, and prolong the spirit of the theatrical staging of the great nave.

At the top, the hall is a transitional space towards the two other exhibition rooms. A large bay window expands the space of the hall towards the wooded horizon of the valley. A furnished lounge occupies the space against the bay, offering a moment of repose in front of the most beautiful view of the site.
After visiting the two upper rooms, the visitor descends to the lower level of the hall and takes a gallery along the existing building to return to the general reception of the museum.
The route thus defines a loop that can be followed in either direction. The temporary exhibition spaces can initiate or finish the complete tour or be visited independently of the permanent exhibitions.

Team
Projectiles, architect (project manager)
Base, landscape designer
Batiserf Ingénierie, structure engineering
Louis Choulet, flood engineering
Bureau Michel Forgue, construction economics
Abraxas, light designer
Aïnu, conservation
Orfea acoustique, acoustician

Client
Syndicat mixte de la Cité internationale de la tapisserie et de l’art tissé

Stage
IN USE